'Sneaking' two extra children into hotel room booked for two adults and two children

[AlbertCamel]

AIBU in thinking this may have implications regarding insurance etc?

Friend is off on holiday later today to a large hotel abroad with her DH and four DC aged between 4 and 16. Not a package, no meals included and flights were booked separately.

The room has a small bedroom, bathroom and living area with a sofa bed. It sleeps 4. They've booked it for two adults and two children. That's the maximum number of people allowed.

She wants to check in with DH, their two youngest boys and all their luggage, and have the two oldest boys wait outside until they're 'sneaked' in a little while later.

I think that whilst this is logistically possible, it will have implications but not sure what these implications might be. Friend thinks there's no problem with this and nobody will bat an eyelid.

AIBU in saying it's not a good idea?

That is so stupid. They WILL be caught and it will wither be £££ extra or they’ll be on the street. Never mind losing money for their business, over-occupation is likely to invalidate their insurance, I guess it also depends in the country as to how they’ll be treated. Where are they off to OP?

I work in a hotel. If someone did this and we had a fire we would only be looking for the people booked into the room.

Did it with my parents years ago as I'm one of 3. If no food is provided and there's space I would not feel that bad

I’m not clear on how it impacts you?
im sure it will be fine, a bit squishy but probably lots of fun. I put all three of mine in a single bed on holiday when they were little, they slept across the width like little fishies.

I wouldn't be able to relax in fear of being kicked out of the hotel.

It's not going to be a comfy holiday with 4 children that age. There will be some bickering going on in that small space.

The hotel staff are going to notice 2 extra people. It impacts on their hotel safety (e.g. fire, insurance etc.).

Yes there's fire implications but 99.9% of the time this is irrelevant

I don't think this is something I could get exercised about. They're not gonna be very comfortable, I wouldn't do it myself, but in the grand scheme of things it's not exactly treason.

Apart from anything else, it sounds like a bit of a shit holiday: holiday accommodation should be at least as comfortable as your home, and six people squished into one bed and a sofa bed in a tiny apartment isn’t that. Whether they get caught depends on how diligent the staff are, some won’t care unless they’re causing problems, but if they are pulled up on it and there are no additional rooms available to book for the extras they’ll be stuffed.

If caught, I imagine they will be kicked out and charged for the extra accommodation.

It obviously doesn't impact me directly, I'm not going with them, but was just trying to understand the implications of over occupancy from the perspective of the hotel and how that might affect their stay.

They're going to Spain.

Also depends on the country. When we have been anywhere outside Northern Europe then everyone is happy to squish little ones in. We have often been offered one king size bed for five of us in Spain, Morocco etc 😂

My parents used to do this kind of thing all the time when my siblings and I were growing up!
If it's a big hotel I doubt anyone will notice.
I imagine many families are doing similar in this economy.

Your friend is an idiot. I sued to work in a hotel and we have kicked people out for this.

Depends if entry is through reception or not. Highly likely if so that it will be spotted. If not then if cleaners say nothing about the obvious extras then they'll probably be ok. A bit squashed though when it's hot

Cheapskate people with more children than they can afford.

I'm assuming your friend wouldn't dream of doing this in her home country. My advice is: if you wouldn't do it at home, then don't do it abroad.

Well, it's theft. They're doing it to avoid paying for the appropriate accomodation.

We actually fell out about it yesterday, well she was annoyed and said I was trying to ruin her holiday before it had even started. I was just pointing out that there may be fire/ insurance implications and for her to be aware of this.

So Spain will most likely be OK. I don't want them kicked out! However, her boys are pretty loud when they're at home and so it's unlikely they won't draw attention to themselves on holiday and full of energy and excitement.

It’s a terrible idea. They’ll be caught and will spend the whole week stressed about being caught. They’ll have to pay tons more or even be kicked out and find alternative accommodation.

Oh that's what I told her.

That's not right, you'd have no idea who was in the hotel at any given time. People bring others back to their room all the time, or stay out. You wouldn't have hotel staff fretting because not every single guest's at the assembly point, or there are a couple of people they don't know there in last night's clothes. The fire service don't check for specific people, they check for people.

Either way, it does sound like a crap holiday and I imagine the staff will spot pretty quickly what's going on. They'll be asked to pay for another room or leave.

Don't make your two oldest wait outside the hotel. Put ALL your clothes on, and put the two lightest children in the empty suitcases and carry them up to the room.

Make sure you have a plan that in the event of someone knocking on your room door, at least two of the party immediately hide, in the suitcases, under the bed, in the bath or maybe hanging off the balcony.

In case of a fire role call be prepared to disown two your children, (perhaps decide now which you like least).

So it happens quite frequently? Friend said people do it all the time, I just don't know anyone else who would.

They might get kicked out of the hotel and asked to pay for another room. Depending on the size and layout of the hotel will probably affect how likely that is. It will also be cramped, but that’s not your problem.

People on MN always cite numbers in fires, but with a hotel it’s common for people to be away from their rooms and to bring guests to stay in their rooms. If there were a fire register to sign guests in and out that would be different, but I’ve never stayed in a hotel like that. It’s not like any hotel would say “well we’ve got 234 guests checked in, 234 in the car park now, so we’ll stop checking rooms now we’ve met the number”. Either everyone will be trapped in the room in which case it would be checked; no-one is there and again it would be checked; or some of the party escaped the fire and can raise the alarm that there are still people trapped.

Love it!